


Life's a party; so let's dance

by lunamugetsu



Series: Miraculous in Gotham [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Badass Kagami Tsurugi, Badass Luka Couffaine, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Batfamily (DCU), Chloè redemption, F/M, Let this girl get some rest, Lila Lies, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila salt, M/M, Miraculous Ladybug Salt, Multi, Other, Polyamorous Character, Polyamorous relationship, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Tired Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, What else is new?, somebody save this poor child, story heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23765212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunamugetsu/pseuds/lunamugetsu
Summary: Lila's lies have infiltrated the class. Marinette can't go a day without hearing one of Lila's tall tales. While it still bothers her, she can't let that run her life. Despite Lila's best efforts, Marinette's life hasn't been shattered. She has a wonderful boyfriend and a group friends that will stick with her through thick and thin. Even with Hawkmoth terrorizing the city, it's nothing new to Marinette.  Who would have thought a trip to Gotham would spark a joy in her heart like never before.Note: This is a follow up to The Party. You'll have to read that story first before reading this story.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Damian Wayne, Luka Couffaine/Mairnette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Series: Miraculous in Gotham [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712050
Comments: 45
Kudos: 525





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Hawkmoth doesn't know that Kagami is Ryuuko. Chloe has outed herself out as Queen Bee. She has been given a second chance with the Bee Miraculous but now she goes under a different name. Kagami, Luka, Chloe, and Marinette all know each other's secret identities. Adrien does not know.

In the comfort of her own room, Marinette stitched together the last few pieces of the new jacket she was working on, as a song played throughout her entire room. Tikki was currently snacking on the plate of cookies Marinette left out for her. She gave a relieved sigh as she finished the last stitch and placed it on a dress form. It was a military hooded jacket, it was black in color but there was embroidery on the lapels. Her signature, of course, blended in with the design of a sea green snake coiling around the sleeves extending to the other sleeve. The snake’s head was on the front of the jacket while the tail lingered in the back. After surveying her work she went over to her bed and started to lean against Luka who had ceased playing his guitar to wrap his arms around her.

“Tired?” he asked as she snuggled into his side.

“Just finished, you can try it on later to see how it fits.”

“I’m sure it’ll be perfect.” He grinned as she hummed in agreement.

“It’ll keep you warm for when you go on tour with Uncle Jagged tomorrow.”

“Don’t you need one too? Gotham’s going to be cold and you and Tikki don’t really fare well in the cold.” He looked over at Tikki who was now playing a game of checkers against Sass.

“This coming from a cold blooded snake,” she joked before sighing, “And besides you don’t even know if my class will be able to get to Gotham, we’re still short on funding, and not to mention we don’t even know if we’ll even get the accommodations, the class is super stoked at the idea, but I don’t want them to be disappointed if we can’t afford everything, and Paris can’t be left unguarded, I also have all of my guardian duties, and-”

“Marinette,” Luka brought her out of her ranting, “Breathe.” After a couple of deep breaths she started to relax again, “It’s going to be okay, you’re only one person, you shouldn’t have to shoulder so much work. I’m here to help too and so is Kagami.”

“Thanks Luka,” Marinette smiled as Luka kissed her forehead.

“It’s no problem Marinette. And speaking of Gotham, how are your conversations with Damian going,” Luka smiled as Marinette turned red. “Well he is pretty cute.”

“Luka,” Marinette whined as he grinned at her embarrassment, she then looked at him, “you really don’t mind? I know we’ve been together for awhile.”

“Oh Marinette,” Luka wrapped his arms around her, “I know that you have a kind and loving heart. I know how much you love me and I also know that a person can like multiple people. And we’re both that kind of person.” Marinette smiled as she leaned her head against Luka, it’s been about a couple of months since they’ve been an official couple. They had talked about their relationship, not wanting a lack of communication to be a problem. The two had come to the conclusion that they were fine with an open relationship, or a polyamorous relationship. Although they hadn’t found someone that they’d wanted to be in a relationship with. After their trip from Gotham, Luka had asked her if she had liked Damian. While Marinette liked talking to him, she didn’t know if Damian liked her in that kind of sense or if he was just being kind. Luka had brought up that he had an interest in Damian, but he hadn’t said anything else beyond that.

“You might be getting ahead of yourself, Luka. Besides, I doubt Damian sees me as anything other than a friend,” Marinette said, making Luka raise an eyebrow.

“So he’s just a friend?” Luka said with a knowing smile, making her playfully shove him. “I’m just saying, you used to say I was just a friend.”

“Don’t joke about that,” Marinette said, “And besides, I haven’t told him about us yet.” 

“Marinette,” Luka gasped in an exaggerated manner, “Am I your dark secret?”

“Luka,” Marinette laughed, “it’s just never come up and besides we’re jus-”

“Just friends,” Luka finished.

“What will I do with you?” Marinette sighed.

“Love me?” He suggested making her laugh and kiss his cheek. He smiled before looking at her, “will you be okay? Your class is….well they’re.”

“Misled,” she finished before fiddling with her hands. “I’ll be fine. Kagami’s still here and Chloe says she’ll call whenever she can. I still can’t believe that we became friends.”

“You became friends with a person that used to bully you when you were younger, not everybody does that.” Luka said.

“Yeah, but Chloe went out of her way to change. She saw that she could be a better person,” Marinette sighed, “How could I not give her a second chance.”

“And that’s why I love you,” Luka leaned his head against hers making her grin. “You sure you don’t need any help?”

“Luka, I’ll be fine.”

“Well, since I’ll be going to Gotham, maybe I’ll be able to talk to Damian.” Luka said, “He doesn’t seem to like me.”

“Oh Luka, Damian just hasn’t gotten to know you. I’m sure you two could get along like two peas in a pod,” Marinette said

“Whatever you say Marinette,” Luka smiled before taking on a serious expression, “Have you had any luck with the Justice League?”

“No, the same as always,” she sighed.

“When I’m in Gotham, I could go see if I could meet Batman or any of the other heroes in Gotham?” he suggested, “He’s the world’s greatest detective, maybe he can help us in figuring out how to stop Hawkmoth once and for all.” 

“I,” Marinette hesitated, “That would be a good idea, although our first time meeting them could have been under better circumstances. It’s just. I mean.”

“You don’t think he’d listen.” Luka finished

“Not a lot of people do.” She sighed. Luka frowned before hugging her from behind. 

“Don’t worry Marinette, we listen to you. And one day they will too.” She gave a sigh at his sentence, gaining whatever comfort his words could give. 

Beep! Beep!

The two looked over at Marinette’s computer. It was a skype call. 

“Looks like your ‘just a friend’ wants to talk to you,” Luka laughed as Marinette threw a pillow at his face. 

“You be quiet,” she pointed at him before walking over to her computer. She clicked on the answer button and watched as the screen opened to show Damian. She bit back a smile as she saw his disgruntled face. “Everything okay, Damian?”

“Nothing angel,” he replied, “I just have to deal with some vexing company.”

“Y’know you love me demon spawn!” Marinette raised an eyebrow at the voice she heard off camera.

“Very vexing company.” Damian repeated

“C’mon Damian, he just cares about you,” Marinette said 

“He cares to annoy me.” He countered making Marinette laugh. Luka smiled before giving exaggerated air kisses towards his girlfriend before pointing at the computer and doing the same towards it. 

“Oh my god,” Marinette scoffed as she hid her burning red face.

“What’s going on angel?”

“You’re not the only one with vexing company,” she replied, Luka pouted at her reaction and mimed a tear rolling down his face.

“Is it somebody I should be wary about?”

“It’s nobody that you haven’t met before.” Marinette laughed as Luka walked over and looked into the camera.

“Hello Damian,” he waved as the other frowned. 

“Hello, I didn’t know that you were in Marinette’s company,” Damian replied.

“Don’t be alarmed, I just needed to practice my guitar and Marinette offered her place.” Luka said as he sat pulled up a chair to sit next to Marinette. 

“Great,” Luka grinned at the other’s grumpy reply.

“Well aren’t you being a grumpy pants today?” Marinette joked.

“He’s grumpy everyday!” a voice from off screen yelled.

“Stop eavesdropping on my conversations, Todd!” Damian turned his head to yell at the offending person.

“Never!” Marinette smothered her laughs as Luka smirked. 

“I’m guessing your life hasn’t really changed much,” she said, making Damian smirk. 

“Gotham’s still the same, the people that surround me are still as annoying as ever.” 

“Really, I think you get along just fine,” Luka joked

“Luka,” Marinette nudged his arm, “Hey Damian, guess who’s going to be going to Gotham soon.” 

“Oh, did you get the funding you needed?” He asked 

“Not yet, still figuring on how to deal with our limited budget and all of the travel expenses.” She replied before perking up, “Since you didn’t guess I’ll tell you. Luka’s going to be traveling there soon.” 

“Great,” Luka could tell that the other was trying to force himself not to groan. 

“Well I’ll be in Gotham next week, don’t go dying from excitement now,” Luka said. “I’ll be leaving Paris tomorrow though.” 

“Tomorrow?” Damian asked

“He’s going on tour with Uncle Jagged,” Marinette supplied, “That’s why he’ll be in Gotham later.”

“Are you going to be going to Gotham too, angel? I remember you talking about it the last time we met.”

“The trip to Gotham is still up in the air,” she sighed, Luka put his hand on her shoulder for comfort, “We’re a little bit short on travel and housing expenses. I’m looking to see what I can do with the budget, but if I can’t find a solution, then the trip will have to be postponed until spring or I’ll have to plan a different trip entirely.” 

“You go to the College François Dupont, right?” Damian asked.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” 

“No reason, just wanted to make sure,” Damian told her, Luka hid his smirk for he was already predicting what was going to happen. 

“Well ho-”

_ BEEP! BEEP! _

Marinette and Luka both took out their phones. It was an akuma alert. 

“Sorry Damian, I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this meeting short,” she apologized.

“That’s fine angel, I’ll talk to you later.” He said. She bid goodbye to him as she ended the call. 

“The akuma’s near the eiffel tower, people say that it's a gladiator in a flaming chariot” Luka said as he looked at his phone. With all of the chaos that occured ever since the akuma’s have shown up. The city was able to create an app to alert the citizens of when an akuma had shown up. Although the app did have its faults when it first came out, when Marinette approached the tech genius of her class, Max. Well, when Ladybug approached Max. They were able to create a more informative one to distribute to the populace. The app was able to show the location of the akuma, along with any shelters that people could seek refuge in until the heroes could deal with the akuma. The app would also allow people to comment about what powers the akuma displayed. If anybody wanted to see what was happening, the app would be able to connect them straight to the news that was recording the akuma. 

“Ready?” he nodded.

“Tiki! Spots on!”

“Sass! Scales Slither!”

* * *

“I AM ROAD RAGE! YOU CANNOT STOP ME, LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR! SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE AND HAND OVER YOUR MIRACULOUS!” True to what was on the app, akuma had transformed a man into a gladiator with a flaming chariot that was drawn by two flaming horses. It didn’t help that wherever the villain went it left a wall of fire right after it. Basically cutting off anybody from running away or getting into someplace. 

“Me-owch! Don’t you know that it’s rude to yell at people you just met,” Chat Noir said only to scream as the villain tried to run him over. 

“Be careful Chat Noir,” Ladybug dropped down to help up her partner, “Viperion and Ryuuko are helping clear the civilians right now. Any idea where the akuma is?”

“My guess it has something to do with that chariot of his- INCOMING!” They both split off into seperate directions as Road Rage rampaged towards them. 

“You okay Chat?” she called out to the wall of fire.

“I’m fine Milady! Wait stop following me!” She heard Chat Noir scream, “I’ll keep him distracted Milady! Please come up with a way to stop him. Preferably soon!” She heard his voice in the distance, he was most likely leading the akuma away from the populated areas. She took out her yoyo and propelled herself to the roof of a building. She scanned the surroundings and saw that Chat was currently using his pole to help vault him out of the way of Road Rage. At the rate that this was going, Road Rage would have half of Paris on fire. Since Road Rage was controlling where the flaming chariot was going, it’d be best to separate the driver from the chariot. 

Thump!

Ladybug looked behind her to see Viperion walking to her side.

“Civilians are all inside their homes or in an akuma shelter, Ryuuko’s already going to meet up with Chat Noir.” he answered. 

“Good, our first objective would be to stop the chariot. We should see if we could knock off the rider. Let’s see if Chat Noir and Ryuuko can trap him inside the eiffel tower.” She reached to grab her yoyo only for Viperion to grab her arm.

“Knocking him off the chariot won’t work.” He said. Ladybug paused at his tone of voice, it was filled with haggardness.

“You used Second Chance.” It wasn’t a question. Viperion nodded, “Tell me everything.”

“The chariot can move on its own, it doesn’t need the rider. The rider just controls which direction the chariot goes. If we seperate them, the chariot will go crazy and become uncontrollable.” He informed her.

“So we need to be able to take out both the rider and the chariot.” She said out loud before a thought struck her. “Hey Viperion, how well do you think a gladiator can swim?”

“Not much.” He grinned as Ladybug took out her communicator.

“Chat, you there?”

“I’m here Milady, Ryuuko’s here too! Hey watch where you’re going!” 

“Listen, I need you and Ryuuko to lead Road Rage to the Seine. Let’s see how this guy takes to water.”

“On it Bugaboo!” Chat screamed

“Understood!” Ryuuko said. Viperion and Ladybug looked at each other and nodded before heading towards the Seine.

* * *

“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!” Ladybug threw her Lucky Charm, which was a large blanket, into the air. Everybody watched as all of the flaming streets were put out and returned to their original state. They then turned to the person that had been akumatized, it was a man in a gladiator costume. 

“I’m so sorry, I was late to a dress rehearsal, but my car had some engine trouble. I just got so stressed out.” 

“It’s fine, stress can get to all of us even on the best of days” Marinette helped the man stand, “It’s important to remember that those moments will pass and that you’ll overcome it.”

“Thank you, Ladybug, to all of you.” The man looked to the rest of the heroes, before looking at his watch. “Oh goodness, look at the time. I have to get going! Thank you again!” The four all waved to the man.

“Pound it.” they all fist bumped in a circle before going their separate ways. 

* * *

“Spots Off.”

“Scales Rest.”

The two of them both called off their transformation at Marinette’s terrace. Marinette gave a sigh as she lied on one of the laid back chairs. She looked over at Luka who was staring off into the sky. She gestured for Tikki and Sass to head inside, the two kwamis nodded as they zipped into Marinette’s room.

“You okay, Luka?” He didn’t say anything, Marinette stood up and walked over to him. She rested a hand on his shoulder. “Luka, talk to me.”

“It’s just a lot to process, Marinette. It’s okay,” He turned to give her a reassuring smile. Marinette blinked before pulling him over to sit on the chair that she had lied on. She situated herself next to him. 

“Luka, tell me what happened,” she reached out to hold his hand. 

“Before I used Second Chance.” He took a breath, “Everything was on fire. All of Paris was on fire. You, Ryuuko, Chat Noir, you were all overcome by the fire. Ryuuko tried her best to put out the flames, it was too much. I don’t want that to happen again.”

“You prevented it.” Marinette said as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “Everything’s okay. Paris is okay. We’re okay.”

“Marinette, maybe I should leave Sass here. You can make better use of the snake miraculous when it’s here. There’s no point if I take it overseas with me.” 

“Luka, no.” reached her hand up to run her fingers through his bangs. “You’re the holder of the snake miraculous. Sass is going to be by your side. Paris will be fine, I’ll have help. And if anything were to happen.” she paused in her sentence. Luka knew what she didn’t want to say. If anything were to happen to her or the other Miraculouses, as long as Luka was away, Hawkmoth would at least not obtain all of the Miraculouses.

“You promise that if there’s a situation that you can’t handle, you’ll come and get me.” He looked at her.

“I promise. Cross my heart.” She made a criss cross motion over her chest and then wrapped her arms around him. “It’s been a long night, so give me hugs.” 

“Okay Marinette,” He returned her hug and laid both of them on the reclining chair. “Let’s stay like this for a little while.” 

* * *

“You got everything? Luggage? Spare guitar picks? Guitar? You can’t leave without your guitar! Does the jacket fit alright? I know I checked last night, but maybe I was wrong.” Marinette fussed over Luka. They were currently at the pier of the Seine where the Couffaine family houseboat was currently docked at. Luka looked over at the deck of the ship to see that Juleka was smirking as she looked at her classmate fussing over her brother. He looked over to the street to see Penny, Jagged Stone’s manager, currently standing outside the car that would take him to the airport. He didn’t say anything but he noticed that the pink haired woman was covering her smile. 

“Marinette,” he said, getting her attention. “Everything’s fine. I double checked if I had everything I needed. Your jacket fits perfectly. I have the bracelet you gave me, everything is in order.”

“Sorry, I must be bothering you,” she took a step back only for Luka to grab her hand and pull her into a hug. 

“I’ll call as soon as the plane lands, I promise,” He pulled her in for a kiss.

“Hey keep it PG!” The two separated and looked over to the car to see Jagged Stone sticking his head out of the window of the car.

“Uncle Jagged,” Marinette moaned as she covered her face. 

“Stay safe.” He whispered to her and turned to the boat. His mom and sister were waving from the deck. “Bye Mom! Bye Jules!”

“Have the time of your life my son!” 

“Don’t do something stupid like getting mugged!”

“I love you too, sis!” He waved goodbye as he took his luggage toward the car. Penny opened the trunk as he placed his suitcase and guitar into the car. 

“Ready to go?” Jagged said as Luka got into his seat.

“All set.” He looked out the car window to see Marinette waving at him. He smiled as he gave a wave back as the car set off for the airport. 

He really hoped that nothing bad would happen when he was gone. 


	2. A day in a life of ladybug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an average day for Marinette, let's see what happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a long time to write, but I have done it!

A small sprout popped out from a pot of soil, it slowly grew and grew before finally blooming into a flower. Marinette smiled as she placed her hands down from their raised position. She looked at the rest of her terrace. She had taken to filling it up with different types of flowers, she practically had a meadow growing on her terrace. She picked up the potted plant with the small flower and placed it next to the railing among the other potted plants. She’ll make sure to transfer those plants into a big planter box, that way it wouldn’t take as much space as the individual pots. She gave a grin as she felt a small weight on her shoulder.

“Good job Marinette. You’re becoming more in tune with your ladybug powers. You were able to make the seed sprout into a flower in a couple of minutes. At this rate, you’ll be able to make them grow in seconds.” Marinette frowned as she looked at the plant.

“I don’t know, the flower is a bit on the small side, maybe I need more practice.” She blinked as Tikki flew up to her face.

“Marinette, the power of creation isn’t something to sneeze at. If it can’t be controlled properly, it can cause devastating consequences. Remember the first time you tried to make the seed sprout, you passed out.” Marinette winced at the statement. She remembered it clear as day, it wasn’t fun passing out on the terrace and waking up to your parents yelling about taking her to the hospital because of her prone form. Luckily, she was able to convince them that she was just tired and was overworking herself. She was able to qualm their fears when she said that she was going to stay in bed and catch up on some sleep. When she had checked on the seed it barely had a sprout. It took all of her energy just to do that.

“I know Tikki, but I feel like I should be doing more.” Being Ladybug is a harrowing job, but she had gotten into the rhythm of it. Heh, rhythm. Luka’s been rubbing off on her. Marinette took a deep breath. It was hard to believe that she’s been a superhero for years now. Starting when she had begun lycee and now that she’s in her final year. She had become more attuned to Tikki’s powers, become more efficient in handling akumas and sentimonsters, and yet she still wasn’t any closer to finding out who Hawkmoth and Mayura. She shook her head, ridding her mind of those thoughts. The fact that she was able to grow with all of the things that are happening is an improvement in itself. She shouldn’t just focus on the negative things, it wasn’t healthy. She felt Tikki sit on her shoulder again, she didn’t know how she would have survived all that stress if her kwami wasn’t there giving her constant support. She looked back to the flowers sitting on her terrace. She had taken to practicing the creation magic on different kinds of flowers such as lilies, peonies, lilacs, sweet peas,and lavenders. Her favorite is the small rose bush that she kept in the large planter box in the corner. It was the first plant that she had started using creation magic on. That little sprout became a healthy plant sprouting beautiful white roses. Tikki was right, she shouldn’t sell herself short. 

“Everything okay, Marinette?” Tikki laid her paw on her user’s cheek.

“Everything’s fine,” Marinette smiled as she reached up to cradle Tikki in her hands. “C’mon, let’s go inside.” She gave a shiver as she felt the night breeze. While being more attuned with her Miraculous gave her amazing abilities. Like being able to help plants grow and being able to help wounds heal. Although there were downsides, she couldn’t heal herself, the gift of creation was always meant for others, not for one’s own desires. On the bright side, she found out that she could purge all the bad luck that constantly stuck to her. Tikki had told her that ladybug users tend to attract bad luck out of costume to balance all of the good luck that they attract when they’ve transformed into ladybug. So if Marinette was able to purge the bad luck that she always had, then she would reach an equilibrium of normal luck. She was worried that if she purged the bad luck then Ladybug’s luck would be affected. Luckily, the heroine’s luck wasn’t compromised, Marinette had learned that Ladybug’s luck wasn’t affected since Marinette still attracted bad luck to her, but since she cleansed the bad luck that stuck to her, she never felt any of the negative effects of having bad luck. Tikki had told her that if she kept it up, she’ll eventually start being able to attract good luck to her. But she still had a long way to go before she got to that level though. She went down the ladder into the comforts of her warm room. 

“Marinette! Look at all the stuff I found underneath your desk!” The bluenette blinked as she saw the mouse kwami, Mullo, fly right in her face while carrying different knicknacks. She had forgotten that she was still wearing Mullo’s necklace.

“Hey, Mullo. What’d you find?” she recovered from the shock as she sat down on her desk chair. Mullo gave a squeak as they set the items on the table. Marinette had taken to notice that the kwami’s had their own quirks that corresponded to what animal they were. Mullo, the mouse kwami had the tendency to explore tiny spaces, looking for whatever had gotten there.

“I found one of your safety pins, the cap to one of your little pen things and this roll of tape! I also found one of those coins that you always keep in your purse!” Mullo said as they levitated around the items. 

“Huh, I was looking for that,” Marinette said as she took the cap and placed it back on her pen. “Thanks, Mullo.”

“No problem, I’m having so much fun looking around your room,” the kwami said, “It’s nice to explore somewhere new.” Marinette smiled as she saw Mullo’s happy face, she always tried to make sure that the kwami’s could have time out of the box whenever she could. Getting to know the kwamis and all their differences was one of the best parts of being a guardian. She looked over to the ladybug patterned box, she picked it up in her arms. So much responsibility weighed on her shoulders, she had to keep the miracle box safe, no matter what. She looked up as she felt something nuzzle her cheek.

“Time to go back in?” Mullo said as they continued to nuzzle her.

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled, “Sorry I couldn’t talk to you as much as before, I got distracted. Do you want to bring something with you when you go back in?” Mullo nodded before flying over to the desk and picking up a roll of tape.

“I want to see what Trixx is going to do with this.” Marinette gave a smile to the kwami before presenting the box for Mullo to fly back into. The kwami waved goodbye to Tikki before zipping back into the box. Marinette took off the necklace and opened the box, all of the Miraculous jewelry popping up in front of her. It opened up in a similar way like Master Fu’s box had, except it opened up more in a fashion of a blooming lotus, with the slots for all of the Miraculous being in places of where the petals were. She placed Mullo’s necklace back into its spot and watched as the box closed up. She felt Tikki rest on her shoulder.

“You’re doing great Marinette, don’t ever forget that.” The little god said, making her friend smile.

“Thanks, Tikki. C’mon let’s get to bed, we have an exciting day planned for tomorrow.” She climbed into her bed, her kwami settling herself beside her.

Beep!

Marinette looked over to her phone that had rang a notification. It was a message from Luka. She opened up her phone.

Luka: Finally got off the plane. But look at what dear Aunty Penny did to me and Uncle Jagged. :(

< a picture that showed Luka and Jagged Stone being squished in cramped seats in a small car while Penny was smiling while taking the picture of all of them.>

Marinette smothered her laugh as she saw the photo. Tikki gave a giggle as she flew to see what her partner was looking at.

“I wonder how he and Sass are doing, it must be fun to be able to travel to new countries.” Tikki commented.

“You’re one to talk, Ms. I’m the God of Creation,” Marinette teased as she sent a reply to Luka on how adorable he looked. “You’ve surely seen the entire world in all your years.”

“Yes, but I love seeing how the world changed. It’s always nice seeing how countries grow and evolve. And the ladybug’s I’ve met along the way too,” Tikki said as she snuggled back into the pillow that Marinette had stitched for her. Marinette paused for a second before lying back in the bed, her phone now left on her nightstand. Tikki never really went into details about the previous ladybug wielders.

“Tikki, your previous wielders,” She said, getting her kwami’s attention, “Do you have a favorite?”

“Aw, Marinette. You know I don’t play favorites among my wielders,” the kwami told her, “They’re all different and special in their own ways. All of them had their faults and their strengths. It didn’t make one better than the other. I cherish all of the time I’ve spent with them.”

“Can you tell me a little about them?” Marinette watched as she saw Tikki freeze. Maybe she overstepped on that question, “You don’t have to tell me their names, just describe their personalities. I’m just curious at what kind of people they were. It’s okay if you don’t want to answer. I’ll just head to sleep.” Marinette grabbed her bed sheet to cover herself with.

“They were kind,” Tikki said, making Marinette stop, “If any of my users had one thing in common, they were all kind and cared about everyone more than themselves.”

“Really, every single one of them?”

“Ladybug’s powers are to be used to prevent great calamity, to protect those that can’t protect themselves. All of my user’s grew up with a heart that reflected my powers. A power that is meant to help life flourish. They were people that just wanted to protect. And they all showed that they were worthy of the ladybug miraculous.” Tikki explained.

“Do you really think I could be as great as them?”

“Marinette, every Ladybug had to start somewhere. Do you think they all started off perfect? They each grew into their role of being Ladybug.” Tikki told her.

“I don’t know, I just. I feel like I should be doing more. I,” Marinette paused, “I don’t know.” Tikki frowned before flying off her pillow to snuggle next to Marinette.

“You do more than enough Marinette,” she said before settling down in front of her. “Y’know, one of my ladybug’s used to think that way too. She felt like she was carrying the weight of the world on her. She felt like she was the only one that was fighting, but she wasn’t alone. She had comrades that stood by her side, helping her change the world. Just like you Marinette. Please don’t go feeling that you’re not enough or alone in this fight.”

“Thanks, Tikki.” Marinette smiled as she snuggled into her pillow. “Could you tell me more about the other Ladybug’s.”

“Well,” Tikki pondered, “I used to be partnered with an Amazonian warrior.”

“Really?”

“Yup, she was a proud and headstrong woman. A little too headstrong at first,” Tikki said, “But she grew to be a wonderful and righteous leader that protected her people. The last I heard of her was that she had a daughter. I was happy to know that she was able to have her own family.” Marinette smiled as the night ended with Tikki talking about her other ladybugs. 

* * *

“Marinette, you gotta wake up, your mom’s calling you,” Tikki started pulling on her chosen’s arm as Marinette continued to snore. Tikki flew up towards the bluenette’s ear. “Get up!” 

“Huh! Wha!” Marinette shot up with drool dripping down her chin. 

“Marinette are you not awake yet? It’s already lunchtime, come down and eat. We don’t want to be late for when we go to the Tsurugu’s, right?,” her mother’s voice rang up the ladder.

“Coming, let me just get dressed first” Marinette rolled out of bed and scrambled toward her dresser. Tikki gave a giggle as she watched the bluenette rush to put on her clothes, the kwami zipped into Marinette’s bag as she grabbed it and headed downstairs. 

* * *

“Are you sure, Papa will be okay being at the bakery. Especially with,” Marinette trailed off as she and her mother were walking through the streets of Paris.

“It will be fine. Your grandpere is there with him. Maybe they can finally catch up on all those years apart.” Sabine reassured her daughter as they were coming up to a familiar mansion. 

"You don’t think it’s going to end with grandpere yelling something along the lines of ‘that’s not how it’s done!’” Marinette moved her arms in a joking manner similar to her grandpere. 

“Let’s not state the obvious, Marinette. That’s always going to happen.” Sabine said as they walked up to a familiar gate. Sabine rang the doorbell.

“Who is it?” Marinette recognized Tomoe Tsurugu’s stern voice over the intercom. 

“It’s Sabine and Marinette.” Marinette watched as the gates beeped open letting them walk onto the residence. 

“Come in, Kagami and I are in the backyard.” Tomoe’s voice rang out over the intercom. 

* * *

Kagami swung her bokken another time as her mother supervised her. She’s always been used to her mother’s strict teachings. She knew that her mother didn’t mean anything ill by it. It was just her mother’s way of making her be prepared in upholding the family name. The strict teachings did hinder her social skills though. With all of her peers seeing her disciplined attitude as nothing more being cold and harsh. She was blunt, and people took that as her being inconsiderate of others feelings. Making friends was difficult. 

“Hey Kagami!” a familiar voice called out. Kagami smiled as she saw a familiar pigtailed bluenette walking up to her followed by her mother. She watched as Mrs. Dupain Cheng greeted her mother while Marinette went to get changed.

“We’ll have a five minute break, while your friend gets ready for her training with Mrs. Dupain Cheng.” Kagami nodded as she relaxed her stance and watched as her mother talked to Marinette’s mom. She honestly wouldn’t have thought that Marinette’s mom and her mother would get along so well. Then again, not all bakers know martial arts and can go toe to toe against her mother in a fight. It made her happy. She’s never seen her mother act so friendly with anyone besides father. 

“I’m ready,” Marinette called out as she ran up to Kagami. The pig-tailed girl had changed into her workout outfit which consisted of her sports leggings and top that were both black with pink outlines. 

“Hello Marinette,” Kagami greeted her friend as she smiled and waved to her. The swordswoman never would have thought that she’d have a training partner before. She watched as Marinette started to do her warm up stretches side by side with her mother. She never would have thought that mother would have allowed her to have a training partner before. 

“All done Maman!” she heard Marinette said as she stood upright. 

Kagami sure is glad that she did though.

The swordswoman watched as Mrs. Dupain Cheng tossed a staff over to Marinette. She smiled as her friend clumsily caught it before breathing a sigh of relief. Kagami quickly composed herself as she heard her mother tell her to resume her katas. She nodded as she went back to swinging her sword, but she eavesdropped on her friend’s conversation with her mother. 

“We’re not practicing forms, maman?” Marinette said as she looked at the practice staff that her mother had handed her.

“Not quite, right now I want to introduce you to bo staff forms.” Marinette’s mother said as she held up her own staff. “Now Marinette, if you’re fighting off an opponent and you only have a staff. Show me how you’d wield it.” 

Kagami watched as Marinette looked at the staff for a moment before holding it like one would a baseball bat and swung it lightly back and forth. 

“That’s to be expected since this is your first time holding a staff.” Sabine said before she put herself in a wider stance while holding the staff with her arms farther apart then her daughter did. “Hold the staff like this, you’ll have more maneuverability and you won’t be confined to a rigid stance.” 

“Yes maman,” Marinette said as she copied her mother’s form. 

“And don’t grip the staff too tightly, you won’t be able to move it as well as you could.” Sabine told her as Marinette nodded. 

“Kagami, focus on your swings.” Kagami’s mother’s voice rang out, making the girl turn back to her katas. 

* * *

“And that’s enough practicing. How about we take a break.”

Marinette panted as she steadied herself before standing up straight. She gave a sigh of relief as her mother handed her a bottle of water. 

“Thanks maman,” she said as she went over to Kagami who had just finished her katas. She waved to her friend who gave her a smile as Marinette walked up to her. 

“All done with practice?” 

“We’re just taking a break right now.”

“She’s showing you how to wield a staff. Not doing hand to hand combat anymore?” Kagami asked as they sat down on a bench. 

“Not exactly,” Marinette took a sip of water. “Maman wanted to show me something new. We’re going to practice hand to hand combat later.”

“How does your mom know martial arts?” Kagami asked, Marinette paused. She didn’t really know. Her mother never really talked about it, Marinette always assumed that it was something her mother always knew.

“I don’t know actually,” Marinette said. “She never talked about it. So I never pried.”

“I see-”

_ BEEP! BEEP! _

Everybody looked up as they heard the sound coming from their phones. They also heard the sirens of several cop cars that were broadcasting a message.

_ AKUMA ALERT! AKUMA ALERT! SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY! AKUMA ALERT! _

Marinette and Kagami looked at each other and nodded before looking at their mothers. Who were calling for them.

“Marinette, Kagami. Come inside quickly!” her mother called. Before Marinette and Kagami could move the ground started to shake making the girls fall down. Marinette’s eyes widened as she saw the ground was starting to crack and break apart forcing the two daughters to be separated from their mothers. They both coughed as a plume of dust emerged from the cracks blinding their vision.

“Mother!” Kagami yelled out as soon as the shaking had stopped. Marinette looked around to see that there was now a chasm separating them now. 

“Stay where you are Kagami!” Tomoe’s voice rang out through the dust. 

“Maman! Are you okay,” Marinette called out.

“We’re fine. Just stay over there with Kagami. Don’t go running off. You don’t know what’s happening.”

“I understand Maman!” Marinette responded, she turned to look at Kagami. They both nodded to each other as Tikki and Longg flew out from their hiding place. 

“Tikki! Spots on!

“Longg! Bring on the storm!” 

* * *

“What do we know about the akuma?” Ladybug called out as they were running across the roofs.

“It’s near the Louvre. Looks like he’s calling himself Earth Shaker and as we can see he can control the earth.” Ryuuko said as she looked up on the app. They both perched on one of the tall buildings that were overlooking the Louvre. Which looked like it had been turned over by a bulldozer with the plaza being nothing more than piles of rocks. The crater in the middle of the plaza wasn’t giving any beauty points either. The building didn’t look like it was going to do much better with how Ryuuko was seeing some kind of grey giant in overalls with humongous arms that were holding onto a large steel mallet. She and Ladybug both watched as the giant gave a roar before swinging the mallet down on the corner of the Louvre pyramid. The ground gave a shake as the mallet swung down, the glass of the pyramid broke into pieces. 

“WILSON! COME OUT HERE! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!” the giant yelled. 

“Looks like this akuma was created by rage against a person.” Ryuuko said as Ladybug nodded in agreement.

“We don’t have time to play detective right now. Right now, we gotta get him away from the building, there are probably people hiding in there.” Ladybug flipped open her yoyo, “Where are you Chat?”

“Shall I stall for time while you contact him?”

“No, right now we should focus on getting his attention away from any buildings. We’ll make him follow us so we can gather more intel about his powers.” Ryuuko nodded at Ladybug’s instruction. They both ran towards the giant, Ladybug acted first she swung her yoyo out and wrapped it around the large mallet and pulled catching the giant’s attention. The giant gave a yell as he pulled back on the mallet which caused Ladybug to be flung forward towards the akuma. Ladybug gave a yell as she was flung at the akuma. Ryuuko gritted her teeth as she ran at the akuma, swiping her sword at their face, catching the villain off guard. The akuma gave a yell at her attack giving time for Ladybug to reign her yoyo back to her. 

“LADYBUG!” Earth Shaker yelled as the butterfly outline appeared on his face for a moment. “Give me your miraculous now!” 

“Come and get it!!” Ladybug yelled as she quickly swung to a lamppost. She perched herself on top of it. Earth Shaker gave a yell as he started chasing after her. Well more like walking, the giant surprisingly couldn’t really pick up speed with his size. Ladybug and Ryuuko led the giant away from the Louvre. 

“We have to find a place where he can’t slam his mallet on!” Ryuuko said as they kept on running. 

“Too late!” Ladybug grabbed Ryuuko and swung them both into the air as Earth Shaker slammed the mallet down on the ground. As Ladybug and Ryuuko were descending from the air, Ladybug held onto Ryuuko as she wrapped her yoyo around a stray lamppost. They both gave a yelp as the lamppost broke sending them barreling into the street. 

“We have to separate him from the mallet.” Ryuuko said.

“I know, but he has an iron grip on that thing. When I tried to pull it out of his grasp before he didn’t even budge.” Ladybug responded as they ran out of the way of the giant. 

“Milady!” a voice called out making the two look up to see a certain cat running across the rooftops. 

“There’s the cat,” Ryuuko said as they went to the roof. “Took your time, didn’t you?” she said as she and Ladybug met with the black cat. 

“Sorry, getting away proved to be difficult,” he said as he took a step back from Ryuuko glaring at him. 

“Ryuuko enough,” Ladybug said, getting between them. “We have to focus on the akuma.” 

“I saw him when he got akumatized.” Chat Noir said, “He’s a construction worker. It went into that hammer of his.” 

“We have to find a way to get him to release that ham-”

SMASH!

They all tried to steady themselves as the building they were standing on started to shake. Ryuuko looked over the edge of the building to see that Earth Shaker was swinging his weapon to the building. 

“He’s trying to bring the building down.” Ryuuko said as the building shook again.

“Would now be a good time for a lucky charm?” Chat Noir asked in a panic. Ladybug nodded as she called out for her lucky charm and ended up getting a mirror.

“What are you supposed to do with that?” Ryuuko asked.

“Well if we get him to break it, we can give him seven years of bad luck.” Chat Noir piped in. 

“Not the time kitty,” Ladybug looked around before smiling. “I need to get back to the Louvre. Chat Noir can you distract him? I’ll need Ryuuko with me.”

“On it Bugaboo!” Chat Noir saluted and jumped off the building swinging himself in front of the giant.

“Bet ya can’t catch me!” he shouted, making Earth Shaker head towards him. 

“Come with me.” Ryuuko nodded as they went back to the Louvre. They both landed in the decimated plaza.

“What are you thinking of?” Ryuuko asked as Ladybug looked around before grabbing a couple of sacks that were near a destroyed building.

“We’re going to set a little trap for the giant. I’m going to need you to follow the plan.”

* * *

This was really not his day. Chat Noir dodged out of the way as Earth Shaker tried to swipe the mallet down on him but instead got a stray lamppost. Yikes. The lamppost was nothing more than twisted metal at that point. He continued to run around as Earth Shaker trundled after him. 

Beep! Beep!

He opened his baton to answer the call.

“It’s ready! Bring him to the Louvre! We’ll handle the rest.”

“On it milady!” He quickly turned around and waved his arms. “Come on you slowpoke! Bet you can’t catch me!” Chat Noir pole vaulted over a building and started running back to the Louvre. He ran into the plaza before he heard the familiar zip of a yoyo that then wrapped around his torso and pulled him up to a nearby building. 

“Oh bugaboo. Don’t you know my heart is already bound to you.” He punned, he couldn’t resist. He gave a yelp as she unwound the yoyo around sending him spinning.

“Now’s not the time for jokes. Earth Shaker, right behind you?” Before he could answer the thundering footsteps of the giant rang through the plaza. Ladybug smiled before giving him a little scratch behind his cat ears. “Good kitty.”

“Anything for you milady.” 

“Ryuuko, he's here. Get ready.” she said into her yoyo.

“I see him, Ladybug.” Ryuuko’s voice called out. “I will begin commencing the plan when he is in position.”

“What’s the plan?” he was completely confused at what was going to happen.

“Just sit and watch kitty.” Ladybug smiled as they saw Earth Shaker walk in, “Right about now.” 

“WATER DRAGON!”

Chat Noir watched as Ryuuko became a torrent of water and hit the ground where Earth Shaker was. The superhero watched as the akuma slipped and ended falling into a large crater that he assumed the akuma had made prior. Chat noticed that there were sacks of something in the crater that had burst open when Earth Shaker fell. It looked like some kind of grey powder that was mixing with the water that Ryuuko had made. He watched as Ryuuko reformed herself and quickly knocked the akuma down into the pool of water.

“WIND DRAGON!” He watched as Ryuuko’s body turned into a gust of wind that started to circle around Earth Shaker. Chat Noir noticed that the grey concoction that the akuma was sitting in was starting to thicken and harden.

“What’s he sitting in?” 

“Cement. Just enough to keep him stuck there.” She answered

“But how are you going to get him to release his ma-” Just as he said the sentence he saw Ladybug lift up her mirror into the air and angle in a certain way. His eyes widened as he saw that the light was bouncing off the mirror and onto the broken shards of window that were redirecting it into Earth Shaker’s eyes. The akuma gave a shout at the sudden light and dropped his weapon. Ryuuko quickly reverted out of her wind form and grabbed the mallet and jumped out of the crater. She held the weapon up for them to see. 

“Well you certainly gave him something to reflect on.” She gave a frown at his pun. He couldn’t help it, it was too good of an opportunity to pass on. 

“C’mon kitty, y’know the drill.” She and him dropped down to the plaza and walked over to Ryuuko. A good cataclysm and a completely harmless butterfly later, the three heroes were now standing in the repaired plaza with a confused construction worker. It turned out that the construction worker, whose name was Jaune, had misheard his boss, Wilson, when the boss said that he had hired another worker for the company. Jaune had thought he had been fired and created enough negative emotion for Hawkmoth to control him. It all ended well in the end, Jaune wasn’t fired and the Louvre was back to normal. He gave a smile as Ladybug lifted her arm out to him along with Ryuuko. His smile stayed as they all fistbumped each other. The beeping of their miraculous brought their time to its end. He gave a farewell as he left the scene and back to the scheduled life he had.

* * *

Kagami and Marinette ran quickly back to the Tsurugu estate and transformed behind the trees. They nodded to each other and ran to the house. Kagami felt a weight come off her chest seeing her mother and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng was doing fine. Marinette’s mother said that they had taken refuge inside the house while the akuma was rampaging. 

“Well that certainly was a hectic break.” Sabine said, giving a laugh to disperse the tension. “Tomoe, why don’t we cut their training short for today and have our spar.” Kagami could tell that her mother didn’t really like the idea of cutting her training. “I’ll even use a bo staff to make it more interesting.” Kagami knew her mother liked a challenge. Sabine knew exactly how to get her mother to agree.

“Very well. Kagami, that will be enough practice for today, ” Her mother went to the training area of the garden. “For now, we shall see if having a weapon would give Mrs. Dupain-Cheng an edge in our spars.” 

“Keep track of the score, would you girls,” Marinnete’s mother said as she grabbed the practice bo staff and walked to stand across from her mother. “The first one to be knocked to the ground loses, as usual?”

“Of course. Don’t forget to time it as well, Kagami.”

“Yes mother.” Kagami took out her phone’s timer and got ready as Marinette stood by her side to watch. 

“Tell us when to begin Marinette.” 

“Yes maman. Ready… Begin!” Kagami started the timer as the two duelists readied their weapons. Both were calm and steady as they surveyed the other. Sabine stuck first swinging her staff around that was quickly parried by her mother’s bokken. Her mother then went to strike at Sabine who quickly spun out of the way her staff swinging around narrowly hitting her mother. It went like this with either of them striking the other would perry and move away as gracefully while trying to have a counterattack of their own. 

“It’s nice that your mother cut training short.” Marinette said

“That’s only because your mother knows how to bargain with my mother.” Marinette gave a giggle.

“I think she’d know how to bargain with a strict person. Maman used to be strict like yours too.” Wait, really? The baker’s wife was strict. That was something she couldn’t really see for Marinette’s mom.

“Really?” Marinette nodded.

“She had me in gymnastics when I was younger and she’d always make me follow a schedule. She made sure to have after school tutoring, that she would teach. Wouldn’t let me out of her sight. Making friends was tough. Also Chloe being how she was back then didn’t really help either.” Kagami frowned, she knew of the blonde. She also knew how the blonde was a girl who acted like she was superior to others, always belittling everyone in her path. Honestly she wouldn’t have given her a chance like Marinette did, but that’s what separates her and Marinette. That girl has a heart of gold. 

“What made your mom change her strict nature?” Marinette gained a thoughtful look.

“I’m not really sure, I think Papa talked to her for a bit, but I can’t be for certain. I just know she started letting me play around more with others and she stopped tutoring me,” Marinette told her. 

_ FWISH! _

The two turned back to the fight to see that Kagami’s mother had knocked the staff out of Marinette’s mother’s hands. The staff rattling on the ground as it rolled away from the blue haired woman. Sabine smirked before charging at her opponent sending her off balance. Tomoe quickly recovered and tried to retaliate with her bokken only for Sabine to strike her arm and quickly go behind Kagami’s mother kicking her backside making the woman tumble. Tomoe quickly regained her footing but noticed that Sabine had run to get her bo staff while she was unsteady. Sabine smiled as she ran toward her opponent and pushed the staff towards their stomach. Tomoe gave a grunt at the attack and held her gut in response. Sabine quickly spun around, knocked the bokken out of the other woman’s hand before repositioning her staff and pushing at Tomoe’s chest, sending the woman to the ground. 

“I believe this is my win,” Sabine said as she twirled the staff in her hand. “What’s the time Kagami?”

“Four minutes and three seconds.” Kagami called out. 

“Took you awhile to defeat me.” Tomoe said as Sabine helped her up.

“Well, I am a bit rusty on using the gùn.” Sabine said, “I’m pretty sure I can win faster the next time we spar.”

“Who says you’re going to win next time.” Tomoe countered. 

“That is true, but one can be allowed to be confident.” Sabine said

“Don’t let that confidence turn into arrogance. It would be a shame if our spars become disappointing.” 

“Of course.” Sabine replied and walked over to Marinette handing the bo staff. “Okay, Marinette quick quiz. How did I wield the staff?” Marinette perked up at the question.

“Uh you didn’t swing it back and forth like you were trying to kill a fly.” Marinette responded making her mother laugh.

“That is true. Remember this Marinette, monkey’s swing sticks back and forth, we swing a staff with purpose. Now what else did you see?” Marinette gained a thoughtful look before brightening.

“You stayed in form.” Sabine smiled.

“That’s right. When holding and striking with the staff I remained in the base form I showed you.” Sabine said. “Did you notice where I went wrong?”

“When she knocked the staff out of your hand. Your grip wasn’t as tight as it should have been.” Marinette answered.

“That’s right. Tomoe caught me off guard and was able to take advantage of my confusion by separating me from my staff.” Sabine said as her daughter handed her a water bottle. 

“But you were able to get it back. You didn’t hesitate to attack even when you were disarmed.” Sabine smiled.

“For people like us, we might not have brute strength, but we can be swifter. That’s why you have to think on your toes.” She said. 

“Yes maman,” Marinette replied. 

“Say goodbye to your friend. We have to drop by the market to pick up groceries. I’m trying out a new xiaolongbao recipe for dinner.” Marinette nodded and went over to Kagami and Tomoe bidding them goodbye as they grabbed their stuff and left for the market.

* * *

“Aah.” Marinette sighed as she lied on her bed. When Marinette and her mother returned from the market, it turned out that her papa and grandpere hadn’t reduced the bakery into chaos. Those two were able to get along after all these years. With the occasional argument of course. But it ended well with grandpere staying for dinner. Even if he never had xiaolongbao before, he ate it without a fuss. Papa even walked grandpere back to his home. After dinner she was able to finish up her homework and commissions, all that’s next is that she needed to package them up and ship them out. She got up and stretched before grabbing some boxes and placing the items into them with their respective receipts and labels. 

Beep!

Marinette looked up from her packaging to see that her phone had received a notification. She looked at the message and gave a smile. Luka sent her a video. She pressed play. It looked like he was backstage of the concert with the people that were rushing behind him carrying props and lights. She blushed as she saw that he was wearing the jacket that she made for him. He had pushed the sleeves up to his elbow letting her see part of the snake tattoo he had on his left arm. 

“Hey Marinette, I’m backstage at the concert right now. Uncle Jagged and I have to be on stage in about ten minutes so I’ll make this quick. Right after the flight to New York, Aunt Penny shoved us into that car with tiny seats. I hope you got that picture. Things have been hectic, rehearsals and practicing on stage. It’s amazing, I wish you could be here with me.” He paused for a second, “And I hope you’re okay as well. The akuma app still works even out of Paris.” Well that was interesting, Max did a pretty good job on the app. 

“Anyway, Uncle Jagged thought it’d be a good idea to hit up all the pizza places in New York.” he paused, “There are a lot of pizza places in New York. Thankfully Penny was able to stop him before he could get to the tenth one.”

“Hey Luka ready to rock n roll?” a familiar voice called out from off screen. She knew that voice, it was Uncle Jagged.

“Sure Uncle Jagged, let me finish up this video.” 

“Is that for Marinette?” Jagged walked into frame and waved. “How’s it rocking, my favorite designer? We’re getting ready to show all these people how to rock n roll! C’mon grab your guitar, we gotta go!” Jagged patted Luka on the shoulder and walked away. Luka smiled and turned back to the camera. 

“Well you heard Uncle Jagged, I gotta go. I’ll see if I can call you later. I love you, my melody.” He blew her a kiss before ending the video. 

Marinette smiled as she sent a quick text to Luka saying that she was okay and that she missed him as well. 

Beep! Beep!

She turned to her computer and smiled as she saw the familiar name asking for a skype meeting. She sat down in front of it and answered it, the familiar face of Damian popping onto the screen. 

“Hey Damian,” she greeted.

“Hello angel,” he answered. She gave a smile as she saw a great dane walk up to Damian and nudge the boy’s arm. Damian just went and petted the dog’s head without any hesitation. 

“Hey Titus,” she waved to the dog who gave a bark before walking away from Damian and laying themself on the bed in the background.

“Didn’t Alfred say you’re not allowed to have pets on the bed?” She remembered the first time she saw the wayne butler. The man had walked in on one of their conversations to tell Damian that he needed to stop Titus from chewing up their shoes only to pause to see that Damian was having a conversation with someone. Damian had quickly ushered the butler out of the room before he could say anything else. Marinette remembered how flustered Damian had been when the butler showed up again to remind him that pets weren’t allowed on the bed and to remove Alred, the cat, from their spot from Damian’s pillow. She’d be lying if she didn’t at least crack a smile at Damian’s frustration.

“He doesn’t like having to clean up the fur that sheds on the sheets. I’ll clean it up,” Damian told her, making Marinette smile. 

“The things you do for your pets. And your brother’s say you’re a demon.” She said. “Did anything interesting happen with your family?”

“Nothing of notoriety, just my family being annoying.” 

“You always say that. C’mon did you do anything together?” Marinette asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, how about you?” 

“Just visited Kagami to train with her. You remember her right?” 

“The fencing champion, right?” Marinette nodded. “Since when did you start fencing?”

“Oh, I didn’t practice fencing. My maman and I were-”

Click!

“Hey sweetie, I got the tape that you needed,” Her mother poked her head into the room waving the roll of tape for the packages. 

“Thanks maman,” she got up to grab the roll, “I’ll finish packaging the commissions tonight and then drop them at the post office in the morning.”

“And have you be late for school again,” her mother frowned, “I’ll drop them off, you go straight to school. How in the world are you always late for school?”

“Uh,” Well gee, Marinette couldn’t just outright say. Well I’m a superhero who has to purify akumas all the time, because freaking Hawkmoth doesn’t think about how others may have a life they need to pay attention to. “I get sidetracked?”

“You package them, I’ll mail them. Understand.” Marinette nodded. “And don’t stay up too late, you need your sleep.” 

“Yes maman,” Marinette waved as her mother left the room. 

“So you finished with your work?” Damian’s voice called from the computer.

“Almost,” Marinette laughed, “Just need to finish packing them. Hence the tape.” she waved the roll around as she grabbed a box and placed the order into it. “And after I’m done with this I can focus on the budget for the trip.” 

“Still need funding?” 

“Yeah, it’s mostly housing and traveling expenses.” She said as she taped the box shut. “I’m trying to see what I can reconfigure to make it work.”

“That’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about.” Marinette perked up and walked over to the computer. 

“What do you mean?”

“I talked to my father about your budget problem. He told me that the Wayne foundation gives grants to schools that need help with funding for any school trips. It’s been primarily used to help with the schools in Gotham. This year, he told me that the grant can be applied to international schools that want to go to Gotham. It provides funding for transportation, housing, and it provides a tour service,” Damian informed her. “You’ll have to submit an essay to apply for the grant. It’s about the achievements of your class and what they’ve done. What do you think?”

“That sounds perfect!” That would solve all of the problems she had with the trip, almost too good to be true. Marinette paused. “I’m not getting special treatment, am I?”

“No,” he responded, “When sending in your essay your identity is completely anonymous until the winner is chosen. So it’ll all be up to what was written on the essay. What do you think? Interested?”

“It sounds perfect, I’ll have to tell my teacher first and then I’ll have to write the essay and proofread it. Then I can send it to apply for the grant. Any chance you can send me the link to learn more about the grant?” 

“I’ll text you the link.” he said 

“Thanks Damian, you’re a lifesaver.” Marinette said.

“You flatter me angel,” he replied making Marinette smile.

“Speaking of Gotham, Luka’s going to be there in a couple of days. Any chance you could do me a favor?”

“What’s the favor?” he asked.

“If you happen to meet up with him any chance you can keep an eye on him? I know Luka can take care of himself, but Gotham’s pretty dangerous. I’d hate for him to get hurt.” Damian frowned as he looked at Marinette’s pleading face. Her blue eyes were practically piercing his soul. While Damian couldn’t really care less at what would happen to the teal haired boy he knew that Marinette would. He gave a sigh.

“Fine, but only because you asked” Marinette beamed at his agreement. 

“Thanks Damian, that really means a lot to me.” 

“Anything for you, angel.” before Damian could say anything else his door slammed open revealing Jason Todd.

“Demon spawn we gotta go bats is-oh you’re talking to your girl!” Marinette raised an eyebrow, what was going on?

“I’ll have to talk to you later angel.”

“That’s fine, good luck with your bat problem?” She waved as Damian ended the call. Well that was weird.

* * *

“What have I told you about knocking Todd,” Damian said as they headed to the batcave.

“How was I supposed to know that you were talking to your girl?”

“She’s not my girl.”

“Right, you just call all the girls you know, angel.” Todd smirked as Damian scowled even more. “Did you even tell her that you made that international grant thing for her?”

“No.” 

“You’re just like your old man, already withholding secrets to your partner.”

“Shut up Todd.”

* * *

Marinette hummed as she taped up the last of the boxes. She had already taped the shipping labels to the boxes and now she could give them to her mother to send them to the post office later. She took a look at the miraculous box that was laid hidden inside the special box that she made before. The box that was just like the one that she kept her diary in. Building one to fit the size of the miracle box took some time, but she was able to do it. She closed the box as she heard a certain tapping on her window that led out to the terrace. She grinned as she grabbed a plate of croissants and cookies that she had grabbed as a snack. She ushered Tikki to go into her jacket pocket as she climbed the ladder. 

“Hey kitty,” she said as she saw Chat Noir perching on the handrail on the terrace. 

“Hello Purrrinces,” he sang. “How has your night been.”

“I’m not sure, there’s a black cat that keeps on showing up on my terrace begging for treats.” she held out the plate for him.

“Maybe that happens because you keep on feeding him.” he said, taking a bite into the croissant. 

“Well if I don’t, he’ll moan about how he’s wasting away,” she said flicking the bell that was hanging around his neck. “Or even worse, he’ll pun.” 

“Aw princess, you wound me.” he said in exaggeration before shoving the rest of the croissant into his mouth.

“Hey slow down, the croissants aren’t gonna run from you.” Marinette said as Chat Noir picked up the other croissant. He blushed and chewed the croissant in his mouth before swallowing.

“Sorry, just hungry.” he said, taking another bite of the croissant. 

“Did the kitty not eat his dinner?” She asked as he continued eating. 

“Not exactly, it’s more like dinner wasn’t enough for kitty,” he gave a laugh as Marinette frowned.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” She said leaving Chat Noir on the terrace while munching on the croissant. He waited a couple minutes before Marinette came back up with some kind of bamboo steam basket. 

“Here,” she placed it on the table there and uncovered it letting him see a bunch of hot and steaming soup dumplings in there. She motioned for him to sit in the chair. She held out a spoon and some chopsticks to him. “It’s xiaolongbao. My mom tried out a vegetarian recipe. Tell me how you think.”

Chat Noir blinked before taking the chopsticks and spoon, plopping a soup dumpling onto the spoon. He blew on it before eating it whole only to immediately regret it as the steaming soup broth burned his mouth.

“Hot! Hot! Hot!” he exclaimed as he fanned his mouth. “Delicious flavor though. Hot!” Marinette laughed at his dramatics as he calmed down. 

“My mom left me some xiaolongbao to snack on during nighttime. She knows I get a little hungry when working.” Marinette said as he took another xiaolongbao and placed it on the spoon and gave it a nibble instead of swallowing it whole. 

“She sounds thoughtful.” 

“Yeah, she’s pretty great. What about you? How about your parents?” she asked.

“Huh? Mine?” he pointed at himself, “My mom’s pretty great, she was like my best friend y’know.”

“Was?” Chat Noir froze. 

“Was, when, where, I don’t know?” he laughed it off. “Anyway how’s your planning for Gotham like?” 

“I think I might be able to get the class to Gotham after all.” Marinette said, making the blonde perk up.

“Really?”

“It’s not guaranteed, I still need to do some things first before seeing if the class can go.” she said making the blonde deflate. 

“But think about it though, Gotham city.” Chat Noir leaned against his chair. “How different that place must look to Paris.”

“It’s quite amazing,” Marinette said, gaining the superhero’s attention. “I went there over the summer. Tons of skyscrapers, gothic style buildings, a city of mystery and crime. It sure has its dangers, but it has mysterious allure to it.” 

“Kind of like Paris.” Chat Noir said

“Kind of, just a lot more crime. It doesn’t hold a candle to Paris, but it has its own charm to it. Not to mention all of the dangerous villains that reside there.” Marinette sighed.

“Yeah, but Batman’s there!” he exclaimed, “Just thinking about even seeing a glimpse of the dark knight is amazing.” 

“Calm yourself kitty,” she said taking a cookie from the plate and munching on it. 

“I know, but just to be able to go to a new place.” He sighed, “it must be great.” 

“What are you talking about kitty, can’t you go wherever you want,” Marinette nudged the hero’s arm. 

“Huh? I mean yeah! Hehe.” he laughed before clearing his throat and standing up, “I should get going, thanks for the food Marinette.”

“Anytime kitty.” Chat Noir smiled and turned to leave only to pause. 

“If it’s worth anything, I think Ladybug should make you a hero.” He said making Marinette smile.

“I was once and that’s enough.” she waved off his statement. 

“Yes, but the team could need a Multimouse again. Bye Marinette.” he waved to her before leaving. Marinette waved as he disappeared into the distance. She frowned as Tikki went out of her hiding place. The kwami gave her chosen a nuzzle as she tried to cheer her up.

“Don’t despair Marinette, we’ll help him.” Marinette looked to the plates on the table that were now devoid of food. 

“I know Tikki. I know.” 

She’ll help Adrien get out from his oppressive household. 

She’ll make sure of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave Luka a tattoo because I feel like he'd be the type of person who would. I'm thinking of giving him a sleeve tattoo. So here's a question. What would be a tattoo that Luka would have? (it has to be an image, not a name. It could be a saying, but you'd have to explain why he would have that)


	3. Just a school day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a regular school day for Marinette.

Marinette opened her eyes to see the blue sky up above her. She blinked before sitting up. She had been lying in some kind of field filled with flowers and tall grass. How did she get here? 

“What do you think?” Marinette looked up to see a girl around her age standing watching the scenery around them. The bluenette noted how the girl was wearing clothes that looked like it was from the middle ages. The gown she wore was formless that hid the girl’s figure, having long sleeves along with an overtunic that was plain, no design on it at all. What struck Marinette as odd was that the girl had a short pixie cut. That wasn’t a hairstyle that a woman from the middle ages would wear. Marinette also noticed that the girl had a scar that went over her right eye and her upper lip. 

“What do you think?” the girl repeated, making Marinette snap back to the conversation. She looks at their surroundings and the endless amount of flowers and grass. If she looked to the distance she could make out some buildings. Looked like farmhouses to her. 

“It’s peaceful and beautiful.” Marinette answered, the girl smiled as she looked at the flowers. 

“I know,” she said, “I couldn’t bear for this place to be in ruins. I had to protect it and the people. Now it’s your turn.”

What? Marinette continued to look at the girl who only smiled at her.

“It’s time to get up.”

What? What is she talking about?

“MARINETTE! GET UP!”

Marinette gave a yelp as she shot up from her bed. What was that? She blinked as she realized that she was in bed. Tikki flew right up to her face waving her arm around to get her attention.

“Come on, you have to get up. You don’t want to be late again.” Tikki said, making Marinette scramble out of her bed and quickly went to get ready. No time to think about weird dreams, she needed to get ready for school!

* * *

Juleka frowned as she looked in the mirror. She went to try to tuck her bangs behind her ear before giving up. It was better if she didn’t anyway. She called out to her mom that she was leaving, getting a good luck affirmation in return before heading to school. She made her way to her classroom, overhearing other student’s conversations while on the way.

“Hey did you see MDC’s instagram?”

“Totally! They posted new pictures of their clothes last night, the model that’s wearing the jumpsuit is amazing.”

“Look at that male model, isn’t he dreamy?”

“You can’t even see his face, what are you talking about?”

“Hey that model with the long hair is rocking that outfit. It’s so cool!”

“I wish I could commission something from MDC.”

“You’d have better luck asking out your crush.”

“Hey!”

Juleka smirked as she entered her classroom and headed to her seat at the back of the class. It was a couple minutes before class was going to start so the purple tipped haired girl took out her phone to look at the MDC instagram that the other students were talking about earlier. She scrolled through the pictures. Some were just pictures of clothes on the hanger. She paused on the pictures that contained the models. 

MDC, a designer that was discovered when Jagged Stone wore an outfit to one of his concerts that he told all of the reporters that was made by MDC. Shortly after that, Clara Nightingale performed in a dress that she said was designed and made by MDC. The mysterious designer that nobody had ever heard of gained fame overnight. When looking up MDC, they could find that there was a website to buy any jewelry that the designer had created. Clothes were another story. MDC only worked on commissions that were on their list. And the list was very exclusive. 

People waited months on the waitlist for commissions and even that didn’t deter people from wanting to commision the designer. Juleka remembered seeing the person that took pictures of their entire process of what happened when they were able to get a commission from MDC and put it on their instagram. All from the process of what they ordered, to what designs that MDC provided for them to pick from to receiving photos of the designers progress of assembling the clothes together. After that was posted, MDC just seemed to blow up even more. Everybody clammored to be on the designer’s list, but the designer only picked a new person for commissions every three months. It still didn’t change even with the growth in popularity. 

What made people like MDC more was their instagram. They would post pictures of finished commissions with the customer’s permission. But what really caught everybody’s eye were the photos of the models wearing MDC’s personal designs. When MDC’s instagram first popped up, it was mainly business information about how they operated and how they worked, with the occasional photo of them displaying any jewelry they would be later putting on sale. Then MDC started posting pictures of models wearing their designs. The pictures were clearly taken at a studio, with the models standing in front of a backdrop, with a couple of props for them to work with. The models that wore MDC’s designs all wore masks to hide their identity. When asked about why the models wore masks. MDC responded that they wanted people to focus on the design of the clothes rather than how the model looked. Most of the models were female with only one of them being male. People theorized that the male model was MDC, but that was never confirmed.

Juleka scrolled through the instagram looking at a recent post. The model was petite and had short hair wearing a kitsune mask while sporting a [kimono inspired dress](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/19914423337578447/) and held up a paper umbrella over their shoulder with a cherry blossom backdrop. Juleka scrolled down to another photo, it was the male model with their hair slicked back and had a fedora tipped up letting people see the domino mask and the smirk he was sporting. The model was wearing a black three piece suit with a vest with an embroidered design. Their button up shirt sleeves were rolled up to their elbows and the jacket was slung over his shoulder. 

Juleka held back a scoff, her brother enjoyed posing for the camera, way too much. Well, it was more he enjoyed posing for the one that was behind the camera. She scrolled down to another post to see one with the model had long red hair tied up in a bun with an ornamental bird hairpin and they were sporting a [floral jumpsuit](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/368591550758038853/) and a mask that had vines in the design. She bit down on her lip, she hated wearing that wig, but it helped in hiding her actual hair. Honestly, Juleka never thought that modeling would ever lead to her covering her identity, but here it is.

“Oh, I met up with MDC last night, he’s such a gentleman!”

Juleka looked up from her phone, turning her gaze to the one speaking in the second row to the front. Lila was talking to Alya who was completely enraptured with what Lila was saying. 

“MDC’s a guy, I knew it! What’s he like?”

“Oh, he’s so shy. His face is actually scarred, that’s why you only see him in a mask. He got it from an accident.”

“What kind of accident?”

“Oh! Did I say that! I shouldn’t say anymore, I spoke too much.”

“Wait, do you know what happened to him?” 

“I shouldn’t say, he’s done so much for me already. Since he saved my life.” 

“He saved your life! How?!”

“Oh! I didn’t mean to say that. Please don’t tell anyone, he already deals with so much already.” Oh my god, Juleka could gag with how Lila’s voice was so faked to be sickly sweet. Juleka could handle sickly sweet, she’s friends with Rose after all. It was when it’s fake, a fake smile, forced politeness while their eyes looked like they’re rotten inside. That was what she hated. 

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. But you gotta tell me how he got those scars.”

“Well, if you can keep it to yourself.” Lila leaned in towards Alya. “This was when I was traveling for one of the charities I helped Prince Ali with about a year ago. There was a fire at the hotel I was staying at. He pushed me out of the way, but he fell into some burning debris and he got some nasty burns from it.”

“Really no way.” 

“I felt so bad at what happened, but he said as long as his muse was safe he would gladly endure any pain it comes with protecting me.” Juleka rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe that she used to fall for those stories. 

“That’s so romantic, don’t worry girl, your secret’s safe with me.” Alya crossed her heart. Juleka scoffed, MDC’s not a guy. She would know. 

“Made it!” a certain pigtailed girl gasped as she plopped into the seat next to her. Juleka smiled as Marinette dropped her head on the table trying to catch her breath. 

After all, MDC sits right next to her. 

* * *

“And that will be all for history.” Ms. Bustier said as she finished writing on the chalkboard. “Remember that you’ll have a quiz on what we went over tomorrow.

DING!

Everybody began to pack up as the lunch bell rang. Juleka smothered her laugh as she looked over to her seatmate who had taken to snoozing on her textbook. She was lucky Ms. Bustier couldn’t see what the students in the back of the class were doing. 

“Marinette, it’s lunch.” Juleka nudged her sleeping classmate.

“Wha?” Marinette said lifting her head off her book, still waking up from her nap. 

“C’mon, it’s lunch. You don’t want to sleep through that too, right?” Juleka said, making Marinette blush while giving an embarrassed laugh.

“Thanks for waking me up, I have to talk to Ms. Bustier. I’ll meet up with you later.” Juleka nodded before getting up to leave. She halted in her steps as she ran into Rose. The petite blonde looked at her before turning her nose up and walking away from her. She felt a pang of sadness seeing her walk away. She was brought out of her thoughts as a hand touched her shoulder. She turned around to see Marinette.

“Rose still hasn’t forgiven you.” Juleka shook her head no. “How about I talk to her, it was my fault she doesn’t talk to you anymore. She even moved seats.”

“It’s not your fault Marinette,” Juleka reassured her, “You just made a suggestion. Everything that happened was all because of my choices. When I get the chance, I’ll explain everything. I should be the one to tell her. I just need to find a way to talk to her.” 

“Oh Juleka,” Marinette gave her a quick hug. “It’ll be alright.”

“I know, now go see the teacher, I’ll go sit at our usual spot.” Juleka bid her friend goodbye before heading out of the classroom.

* * *

“And it comes with accommodations and a program for the class to learn at Gotham Academy while we’re there. Along with a tour of Wayne Enterprises with a series of sight seeing tours like the Gotham Museum and the Courthouse to name a few. It even provides transportation,” Marinette explained the Bustier as the teacher looked over the information that Marinette presented to her. 

“That certainly sounds like a good idea. I’ll bring this up with Principal Damocoles. Until then, perhaps you can get started on the essay.” The teacher said.

“I already wrote an outline, I’d just like for you to go over it, I’ll be able to email you the rough draft by the end of the day.” Marinette said holding out a paper that had her detailed outline written on it. 

“As expected of the class representative,” Bustier said, grabbing onto the paper and glossing over it. “I’ll look over this over lunch. I’ll be sure to give you my thoughts at the end of the day. That should end our meeting for now. Why don’t you go enjoy your lunch now.” 

“Ok, thanks Ms. Bustier.” Marinette waved as she went to go find Juleka. 

* * *

Juleka sighed as she looked over at Rose who was talking with Mylene. She just needed to find a time where she could talk to Rose alone, then she could explain. The ebony haired girl gave a sigh as she looked back at her mirror bracelet. It was all her fault, she had no excuse. How long has it been since she was even able to talk to Rose? She looked up to see that Rose was walking away from Mylene; she was heading up the stairs. Now’s her chance. Juleka stood up and hurriedly chased after the blonde girl. 

“Rose,” Juleka called out as they were on the second level. The blonde paused before turning her head towards Juleka. Rose gave a frown before turning around and continued walking. “Rose, please hear me out.” 

“Hmph, I don’t want to hear any words you have to say,” Rose said as she kept on going. 

“It’s not what you think, let me explain.” Rose paused before turning to look at Juleka.

“Lila used to say that you only hung out with me to get connections. I never believed her, I should have though,” Rose turned around leaving Juleka standing there. 

But Rose, it’s not what you think. Juleka wanted to shout instead all she could feel was nothing. Her heart felt empty, she needed to tell her. It’s not what she thought She just had to explain, she didn’t mean to-

“Juleka, is everything okay?”

Juleka snapped her eyes open to see Marinette standing by her side.

“Uh, I,” She couldn’t find the words.

“It’s going to be okay,” Marinette said as she placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Juleka took a deep breath to calm herself and nodded. 

She’ll try again another day.

“Yeah, c’mon let’s go eat lunch.” Marinette nodded and they both walked back to the bench that the two would eat lunch at.

“Hey! Marinette!” Alya called out running up to them.

“Hey Alya, are you joining us for lunch today?” 

“Nah, Lila’s got an amazing story, I can’t pass up on it. You understand right?” Juleka frowned at the girl’s question, but remained silent and turned to look at Marinette who merely smiled.

“It’s fine, go ahead.”

“Thanks, I’ll make sure to hangout with you after school, promise,” Alya waved as she ran off to go see Lila. Juleka raised an eyebrow as she watched Marinette wave goodbye to her friend. 

“Don’t you hate it,” Juleka said, getting Marinette’s attention, “that she’s hanging out with Lila, listening to her lies, choosing her over you. Why don’t you tell her?”

“I wish I could, but Juleka,” Marinette looked at her, “even if I were to yell at Alya, ‘Lila’s lying to you,’ my words wouldn’t reach her.”

“But,” She didn’t know what to say.

“It’s okay,” Marinette said, putting a hand on her shoulder, “c’mon let’s eat. What’d you do over the weekend?”

“Uh, nothing much, ever since Luka left, I’ve been helping mom around on the ship more,” Juleka said. “What about you? Designed anything interesting lately?”

“Not yet, I just packed a lot of items to ship. Me and my mom were hanging out with Kagami and her mom. She’s starting to teach me on how to use a bo staff.”

“That’s cool,” Juleka said

“Did you say you’re learning how to use a bo staff?” Juleka raised an eyebrow at the new voice and looked up to see that Kim was standing behind the bench leaning into their bubble, with Max trying to pull him back.

“Uh, yeah. My mom’s teaching me,” Marinette said as Kim smiled

“Any chance she can teach me too?” He asked, Juleka looked over at Max who had given up on trying to pull Kim away.

“I thought you were into swimming, what’s the sudden interest?” Juleka asked.

“No reason,” Kim laughed, “I just think it’s cool.”

“Well, I could ask my mom, but we hang out at Kagami’s place to learn. So I’ll have to ask them too.” Marinette said, making Kim give a yell of joy.

“Thanks Marinette,” Kim said, picking the bluenette up and giving her a hug, “It’ll be like when we were kids, well except Chloe’s not here and other things.” 

“Don’t go celebrating yet, I still have to ask them first” Marinette said as Kim continued to hug her.

“It can’t hurt to think positive,” Kim said and then turned to look at Max, “hey, Max, do you want to learn how to use the bo staff too?”

“No thanks,” Max said, “I’ll stick with what I know best and besides Markov and I are working on a new videogame”

“Well if it’s anything like your other games, I’m sure it’ll be great,” Marinette said, Juleka nodded in agreement. She spent a few of her free afternoons playing those games, they were entertaining to say the least.

“Thanks, I’m trying to see if I can implement new heroes into the game.” the bespectacled boy said.

Beep! Beep!

The two girls looked over at Kim who was looking at his phone. 

“Ah, we’re going to be late! C’mon Max, you said you’d time me and Alix’s race again,” Kim said, picking up his friend, “we’ll see you later!” the two waved as they ran off. 

“New heroes,” Juleka said, “Do you think we’ll see them again?”

Ladybug and Chat Noir had been a staple for Paris for months, then other heroes popped into the scene. Rena Rouge, Tortuga, Viperion, Ryuko, King Monkey, Pegasus, and Queen Bee, although Juleka wouldn’t exactly classify Queen Bee as a hero. When those new heroes appeared, Ladybug told everyone they were only temporary until further notice. Then all of a sudden, Ladybug announced that Rena Rouge and Tortuga were completely retired. The heroes said that it was due to personal reasons for Rena Rouge and Tortuga. Queen Bee was also permanently retired as well, but Juleka suspected that was more of Chloe Bourgeois announcing her identity to the world and all that. Ladybug later said that King Monkey and Pegasus will be seen less of as well. Although Viperion and Ryuko had become permanent fixtures on the hero rosture. Plus there was the appearance of a new bee superhero called Honeybee, but Ladybug said that she was still figuring out the ropes, so not a lot of people had seen her recently. 

“Who knows,” Marinette said, “Have you been practicing the dance moves, we’ve been working on?”

“Of course, I can't have you outshine the model here.” They both laughed as they ate their lunch.

* * *

DING!

The bell rang as the school day ended, all the students started to head out as they were eager to leave. Juleka walked out just in time to see Alya talking to Marinette at the school entrance. 

“You understand, right? I can’t just ignore it, Lila has the most amazing stories. What kind of reporter would I be if I let this opportunity slip by.” Alya said, Juleka frowned at the reporter’s words as she went and stood a ways away in order not to intrude on the conversation but close enough to hear every word. 

“But you promised and I wanted to show you something that I think you’d like.” Juleka looked over, she couldn’t really see Marinette’s face from her angle, but judging by what she could see from Alya’s facial expression. Whatever face Marinette was making must have made Alya feel guilty.

“C’mon girl, cut me some slack. I’m hoping to get a big break and Lila could get me that. She’s giving me an exclusive scoop. All of her stories are bringing in great traffic for my blog. You know how important my blog is to me.” 

Apparently more important than keeping your promises to your friend, was what ran through Juleka’s mind as she continued to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“I guess,” Marinette said.

“Alya come on! I only have so much time to talk to you, I do have an appointment to keep later,” a certain voice called out, oh gosh Juleka could gag at that voice.

“Coming Lila, thanks for understanding Marinette, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, promise.”

“Uh, but, um goodbye,” was all Marinette could say as the blogger had run off. Juleka took that as her cue to walk up to her friend and place a comforting hand on her shoulder. The ebony haired girl frowned as she looked at the retreating backs of Alya and Lila. The two were laughing. 

“Alya breaking another promise as always,” Juleka said. 

“Hey she doesn’t break promises that much.”

“Marinette, when was the last time you actually sat down and chatted with Alya,” She didn’t get an answer, because she knew Marinette couldn’t remember. “Everytime you and Alya have a chance to talk, Lila always buts in and Alya promises that she’ll talk to you later, but then you never do. Alya doesn’t even notice, does she.”

“Alya’s still my friend,” Marinette said, “I’m not going to point fingers at her.”

“I know,” Juleka sighed, “but still, if only Lila wasn’t here, you two wouldn’t be drifting away from each other.” 

Ding!

Juleka raised her eyebrow as both of their phones got a notification. She went and fished out her phone from her pocket and looked at the notification. Luka just texted her something.

Luka: Look who I just met.

<a selfie picture of Luka smiling at the camera while Chloe Bourgeois stood next to him with her nose upturned at the camera>

“Oh my poor brother,” Juleka sighed while Marinette laughed.

“Hey, Chloe’s not that bad,” Marinette said as she looked over at Juleka’s phone

“Now,” Juleka interjected, “She was terrible years ago.”

“I know, but people change,” Marinette argued, “C’mon since Alya’s not coming, it’ll be just like usual.” 

“As usual.” Juleka jokes, making both of them laugh.

* * *

“Are you done changing Juleka?” Marinette called from over the changing screen. They had gone back to Marinette’s place to turn her room into an impromptu photo shoot, setting up the backdrop stand for the photos and clearing space for them to model. 

“Almost done, just putting on the boots,” Juleka called out as she laced up the knee high boots she was wearing. 

“How about you Kagami?” 

“I am almost done as well, Mari-hime,” Kagami said from behind her dressing screen. Juleka couldn’t really say much about the fencer, other than she was strict and a bit abrasive at first glance. But, she could tell that the girl cared for Marinete, for she’s always seen Kagami go out of her way to see Marinette whenever she could. 

“All done,” Juleka said as she walked out of the cover of the screen. Her outfit consisted of [black slacks and a vest](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/129830401744637416/) with gold accents that had gold buttons. There was a white long sleeved button up shirt that she wore underneath the vest, the shirt itself had a double collar and had matching gold buttons that the vest had. Juleka fiddled with the cuffs of the shirt before looking at Marinette who was holding up a [burgundy swallowtail jacket](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/339529259413115784/) for her. It looked to be Victorian inspired with how it looked like it came straight out of one of those period dramas. 

“Here you go,” Marinette held out the jacket to help the model into it. Marinette paused for a minute as she examined how Juleka looked in the outfit, “It’ll probably be best to take a couple of photos without the jacket, that way everybody can get a clear look at the outfit.”

“You’re the boss,” Juleka said, taking off the jacket and hanging it over her arm. “Is this supposed to be a costume?”

“Yup, for Halloween, hence the slightly steampunk/ early Victorian era fashion,” Marinette said as she handed Juleka a mask. “I want people to have a taste of my costume making skills.”

“Pretty good, I’d say,” Kagami said, stepping out from behind the screen wearing what Juleka would describe as an ice princess [costume](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/774124916330707/). She was wearing a blue dress that puffed out from the layers of petticoat, faux fur lined the bottom of the dress that had a blue diamond pattern underneath a light blue layer of cloth that had blue roses decorating the bottom of the cloth and a blue vest that hugged the fencer’s torso and a dark blue belt that wrapped around her waist. While wearing white leggings with blue diamonds going down the side of the legs and light blue lace up boots.

“That looks so good on you Kagami,” Marinette beamed, Juleka smirked as she could see that the fencer was blushing at the praise. 

“It’s the dress,” was all Kagami managed to say.

“C’mon, I’ll help you put your wigs on,” Marinette said as she pointed to the wigs that were all sitting on the mannequin heads. “Kagami you’ll have the icy blonde wig and Juleka you’ll have the wavy auburn one. Juleka is it okay for Kagami to go first, her mother wants her home to practice her sword skills.”

“That’s fine with me,”Juleka said as she watched Marinette secure the blonde wig onto the fencer along with the [light blue mask](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/16888567344743128/) that had flowers and icicles decorating it. 

“That’s perfect,” Marinette said as she looked over Kagami one last time before nodding. “Now, on to the pictures.”

They were all familiar with the process, they would pose against the backdrop that Marinette chose, while making use of the occasional prop for them to work with. This time Marinette handed Kagami a rapier to pose with. While Marinette was limited with her smartphone as her camera, she made the most of it by using the lighting softboxes that she had gotten over the internet. She also had a tripod stand so that the camera was holding steady while Kagami changed poses. After a couple of shots, Marinette went and grabbed a light blue cloak with snowflakes on it and wrapped it around Kagami. The fencer posed for some more shots before saying that Kagami was done. 

“I’ll help take that wig off of you and after that you can just change out of the clothes and head back to your house.” 

“Are you sure, Mari-hime? I can stay behind a little longer,” Kagami said as Marinette took the wig off the fencer. 

“It’s okay Kagami, I don’t want you running late. You’ll turn into me,” Marinette joked as she ushered the fencer to change, “Don’t worry I can handle everything.”

“If you insist,” Kagami said before heading to change and left before giving a quick goodbye to the two. 

“Juleka, sit down and I’ll help you put on your wig,” Marinette pointed at the chair as she put away the blonde wig. The girl sat down in the chair and waited for Marinette to work on putting on her wig. After a couple of minutes, Marinette went and tied the [mask](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/829647562603550225/) on her, it was black with a gold bolder and had black and gold roses on it along with gold leaves. “That should do it. A white background will help the clothes stand out more. Give me a second.” Juleka watched as the girl pulled down the white backdrop for them to use. When giving the go ahead, Juleka walked over to the backdrop while Marinette went behind the camera. 

Juleka knew what to do, she started off with a couple of poses and then listened as Marinette tried to suggest other poses for her to do. Then she started modeling with the jacket and the process continued. After a couple of more shots Marinette said that she was done. 

“That’s good Juleka, you can change out of it now. I’ll just take pictures of the last one on the dress form,” Marinette said as she helped take the wig off of her. 

“Sure no problem,” Juleka said as she went to change. After she had finished with going back to her own clothes she went and folded the other clothes and walked out behind the barrier. Juleka smiled as she saw that Marinette had put the last outfit on the dressform and had changed the backdrop to black.

“That looks beautiful,” Juleka commented as she looked at the [dress](https://lolitawardrobe.com/yun-hai-song-qi-lolita-op-dress-and-match-hat_p6285.html). It looked to be a qipao dress that was mixed with lolita fashion as there were layers of petticoats that made the skirt puff out. There was white sheer fabric and lace for the sleeves and embroidered cloud designs on the qipao along with ocean waves on the bottom of the skirt. 

“Yeah, it took so long to make this,” Marinette bemoaned as she smoothed out the dress on the dressform. “I wanted Kagami to model it, but I didn’t want her to be late, so I settled for it to be on the dress form.”

“I think you should model it, it’d look cute on you,” Juleka commented.

“You think so,” Marinette blushed as she looked at the dress.

“Yeah, I could take pictures if you’re worried about that,” Juleka could tell that Marinette really wanted to try it on, she wondered how Marinette could even keep a secret when she was practically an open book.

“Well, if you don’t mind,” Marinette said as she went and took the dress and went to get changed. After a couple of minutes Juleka watched as Marinette stepped out wearing the dress and she was right, Marinette did look cute in it.

“Hey Marinette, say cheese.”

“Huh?” Juleka snapped a photo of Marinette’s surprised face and sent it to Luka. He definitely owes her one now.

“Just making sure Luka knows what he’s missing,” Juleka said as her phone immediately got a notification. She grinned as she opened the text.

Luka: Thx sis, wish I could see it in person

Juleka smirked before walking over to Marinette and wrapping her arm around her holding the camera towards them. 

“Luka wants to see another photo, say cheese,” Juleka leaned her head against Marinette who smiled as her phone snapped the photo. After she took the photo she sent it straight to her brother, one minute later she got a notification.

Luka: Now you’re just rubbing it in

Juleka: As is my right, I am your favorite sister

Luka: you’re my only sister

Juleka: exactly

“What do you think Juleka, hat or no hat,” Marinette said, placing a white hat that had lace that matched the white lace of the dress on her head.

“Hat and you should wear your hair down” she said, “And don’t forget.” Juleka reached into the box of masks that Marinette made and pulled out a [silver mask](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/311311392995687508/) with light blue designs on it. She walked over and affixed the mask to Marinette’s face as the girl pulled her pigtails out and let her hair fan out. Marinette’s hair had grown over the years having now reached her lower back, but most couldn’t really tell the difference when Marinette always wears her hair in her signature pigtails. 

“How do I look?” Marinette asked as she posed for the camera.

“Adorable,” Juleka said as she took a photo, “Now smile for the camera.” Marinette gave a soft smile as she continued to do a couple of poses. After they were done with that, Juleka helped Marinette pack up all of the clothes and tidy up the room as she was getting ready to leave.

“Thanks for the help Juleka,” Marinette said as she walked her friend to the door.

“Hey, you’re helping me with building experience,” Juleka said as they were outside the Marinette’s family bakery. “And don’t forget, we have a history quiz tomorrow.” 

“We have a what?” Marinette paled as Juleka laughed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll text you what chapter pages we went over today.” She said, making Marinette breathe a sigh of relief.

“Thanks a bunch Juleka, are you sure you don’t want me to walk you to your home?” 

“It’s no problem,” Juleka said, “It’s only a couple of minutes away. I’ll see you tomorrow”

“Bye Juleka!”

* * *

“Now let’s see,” Marinette said as she sat at her desk. Good thing there wasn’t an akuma today, she had some time for herself for once. She pulled up the photo that Luka had texted her earlier. She gave a smile as she looked at the picture. 

<a photo of Luka and Chloe smiling at the camera while there appeared to be floating a floating half eaten potato chip and a floating half eaten boiled egg in the foreground>

Luka: Look who I found

She gave a giggle as she texted her response.

Marinette: Looks like you found some ghosts that like to eat your snacks. Hope you’re having fun.

She got a message back.

Luka: Fun with a ton of sleep exhaustion, you looked cute in that dress.

Marinette blushed.

Marinette: You’re making me blush >_<

Luka: Aw, is my melody getting flustered ^_^

Marinette: You big tease

Luka: Only for my melody (・ω<)

She gave a laugh, before getting a notification from Juleka.

Marinette: Be safe out there rockstar, I gotta go study. 

Luka: Talk to you later, Melody. Miss you

Marinette: I miss you too, love you lots ♡＾▽＾♡

She gave a sigh as she went to study mode, can’t have her grades slipping. She looked over Juleka’s message and opened her textbook. 

Let’s see, the Hundred Years War.

She flipped through the pages to the one that Juleka listed.

What started the The Hundred Years War. 

When it ended.

The notable figures that appeared.

Marinette paused as she looked at the picture in the textbook. A very familiar face, she was looking at. Marinette looked at the picture of the painting. The person looked very much like the one that appeared in her dream that morning. Marinette looked at the caption at the bottom of the picture. 

Jeanne d’Arc


End file.
